Adding Prepaid Credit Cards To PayPal Balance

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Hello,

I'm wondering if it is at all possible to add the balance of a prepaid credit card to my PayPal account balance. I wanted to ask here before doing it myself to avoid upsetting the almighty PP. I have heard of people adding the prepaid cards to the account under the PayPal dashboard but I have a few of them and the cards will be declined if I make a purchase that is larger than the prepaid balance. So just to clarify: I don't want to add the card to the account, I want to drain the card and send the balance to my PayPal balance.

What I was thinking:

Can I just create an invoice for myself and pay for it with the prepaid card? What kind of fees are involved for the card? Ie. if I have a $25 Canadian Dollar prepaid visa, can i invoice myself for $25 CDN? I think a lot of processors charge a small amount to verify that the card works.

Is this at all possible or do I need another service? If I do then please point me in the right direction :). I would like to keep everything with PayPal as long as this is deemed fair use.

Thanks,

Jamie

[snowshoe]

What you have in mind is not supported.  Prepaid cards are treated the same as credit cards, you can use them for purchases or to send money but, you can't transfer the funds from the card to your account balance.  The exception would be GreenDot MoneyPaks.

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Ok then what happens if I were to create invoices for a friend and he/she were to pay with prepaid cards? I know I can't make the direct transfer but is there any way around it?

Having a card with $25 is pretty much useless because I can only buy something for $25 or less :\.

[snowshoe]

Here's how PayPal uses the various funding sources and what can be done given the right circumstances:

PayPal will first look at your PayPal Account balance, if you have insufficient funds, PayPal will then take the funds from your Bank Account. PayPal will do an instant transfer from your bank account assuming you have a current linked and confirmed credit card.  If the card is not current or no card, then the transfer from your bank account to pay for the purchase can take a few days, possibly up to 4.

If you have a credit card and no bank account, then the credit card will be used. This all happens assuming you don't elect to choose a funding source. Note, If you have both a bank account and credit card, you can choose to pay with your credit card on the PayPal Checkout screens by using the pay with another source option. There you can select your card from the dropdown.

It is possible to pay using the funds in your Account balance and the remainder with a credit card however, you must first elect to pay with your credit card. Your available balance will be used up and the remainder is charged to your card. As this now looks like you've sent a single payment, you remain eligible for Buyer Protection. You would not be eligible for Buyer Protection, if you paid for the item with two separate transactions.

What you cannot do is split a single payment between 2 bank accounts, 2 credit/debit card accounts or a bank account and a credit/debit card account. In addition, you cannot split a single payment between 2 PayPal accounts.